ron haslam race school

deej · Post by **deej** » Apr 28th, '07, 19:55

has anyone done the elite course, my wife has booked me on in a couple of weeks time as a 30th birthday present, shes ace aint she

ive doen the premier course on the 600's twice now and learnt alot from them, this time the course is done on the fireblade with full datalogging and 1 to 1 instruction.

im going with the intentions of learning to brake later and also to actively counter steer, i know i do it from my t'day photos but its down to me positively counter sterring. what can i expect to learn and how did you rate it,what would you guys like to be able to learn at a race school

Blimey · Post by **Blimey** » Apr 28th, '07, 20:02

Got no experience of one and would love to have ago.

Lucky you pal and any chance i can marry your wife as i could become 30 again

Its going to be fab mate and i am sure you will come away learning something as we never stop learning

Have fun

Oh what would i like to learn ??????

Anything that would make me quicker and more confident

deej · Post by **deej** » Apr 28th, '07, 20:14

yep snap, quicker and confident would be nice, smoother would be a bonus, tbh i'd really like to learn how to slide a bike like jonny rea

nah yuo wouldnt want her mate, shes ace really, shes the carlsberg wife ( when she wants to be lol )

Blimey · Post by **Blimey** » Apr 28th, '07, 20:22

Smoother a deffo. Can be when alone but when theres pressure just fall to bits.

When i ride on the road i get terrible "pannick" brake. Just seems silly but don't trust the road for grip. No matter how many times i have taken that corner.

Sliding now that would be fun hence why i wanted to buy a supermoto. And that would deffo help when doing trackdays. Going into a bend sideways like the GP riders do. Even if i do loose time hey it still looks good

deej · Post by **deej** » Apr 28th, '07, 20:32

yep thats whay im thinking of hab=ving apsorts bike solely for the track and a old ktm enduro for some fun on the roads and also abit of greenlaning in thw inter, that should help too, been thinking of doing one of them cas honda off road schools as that could help with the old track riding

r1dave · Post by **r1dave** » May 1st, '07, 01:41

deej can you let me know how you get on, As im quite interested, Can you also tell me how much the course is. Thanks Dave

deej · Post by **deej** » May 1st, '07, 20:04

its free mate as the wife bought it for my 30th

cbr600 course is 260 and the fireblade is 350 but you have to do the 600 first

will post a report up next weekend

r1dave · Post by **r1dave** » May 1st, '07, 20:59

Wish my wife was like yours, Anyway have fun look foward to hearing from you. Cheers Dave

Jay · Post by **Jay** » May 2nd, '07, 16:15

Nice one Deej. As i want to do this too

deej · Post by **deej** » May 3rd, '07, 18:59

right guys whilst i have 5 minutes i'll write up waht i can remember from when i did the premier courses on the cbr6rr's.

i turned up and it was a bit damp but tried not to let this worry me. went into the paddock suite and registered/signed on. we were then taken into the briefing room and given a 30 minute chat about what to expect from the day,how to behave,track safety,clothing,safety flags and lights. all the legal stuff to protect them and also to protect you whilst out on track. didnt seem to drag on for too long either, guess i was excited.

then we were taken out into pit lane where all the bikes were lined up.you were assigned a bike number at signing on and that was your bike for the day (helps the t/d photographer too, LOL). you were then called out by number and assigned a instructor for the day,based on 2 pupils per instructor, i was lucky i had ian mcconnachie(the last brit to win a british gp) and didnt get 1 of the journalist wannabe racers. we went off to our bikes,had a introdcutory chat about our riding experiences and what we were after for the day. i said confidence and knee down, he gave me that typical 1 of them wannabee kinda looks,i got nervous he made a joke about it and off we went,i started the bike and rode off down pitlane for my first ride on a track, i was quite nervous to start with and soon settled down as we didnt seem to be going that fast,you have 2 slow laps to learn the track then they increase the speed. we did about 6 laps in total and came back into the pits. hwen your out on track they have 3 different colour cones placed at every corner, theres a red cone to indicate the start of the braking area, a yellow cone indicates the turn in point and the green cone is the apex and the only cone you need to aim for. this was a great idea and worked really well. the other good thing they do is gaffer tape over the speedo so your not worried about what speed your doing.

we were then taken into a garage and had the shutters pulled down so we werent distracted by what was going on outside. as your on track theres another group in the garages and then vice versa, the bonus of this is that your tyres dont go cold as someone else will be out on your bike. right back to inside the garage which was where it got interesting and i learnt a lot. thsi breifing was about body positioning, a instructor got on the bike and showwed you were top position yourseles, knees on tank, feet on outside of pegs,elbow down and head positioning. i learnt a lot form this but more importantly they talked about having the ability to look through the corner past the apex and not look at the apex as your passing it. they plucked a guy out to demo what he'd be shown and he was very nervous,stiff in fact and hardly moved. they called me up next up and i though [censored] it up ive paid me money and im going to learn as much as i can so i hopped onto the bike(which was up on paddock stands) got comfy then got into the position the showed me and i leant so far off i nearly toppled the bike off the stands lol that was it for lesson no2 it was now out onto track to practice what i'd just been shown

out on to the track we went, i love left handers and thought the 1 place i'd get my knee down would be goddards,the final corner. we went out and increased the pace,getting quicker each lap and i could really feel the difference of what they'd taught me between the 1st and 2nd session. i was loving it but still no knee down action but my confidence was growing especially in right handers. 2 laps from the end of that session it finally happened and i got ky knee down just when i'd given up on it. suprisingly it wasnt at goddards,it was at redgate and on my right knee as well !!! from then on i was getting quicker and more confident and trying everywhere but could only manage redgate and the melbourne loop

back into the pits we came and into the garage where this time they taught us about race craft,lines,barking mnarkers passing places etc. picked up some more good advice and learnt there was a little white line on the entry to coppice which is what most racers used.

back out on track for the thrid and final time, what an absolute blast that was, the speed was increased and our pairing was 1 of the fastest out there,we'd improved that much in the space of a morning that it was quite unreal. i had my knee down everywhere there wasnt a corner i didnt get the knee down on i even wore down the toe slider at redgate and the melbourne loop.the instructors lead you in the first 2 sessions but in the third ian sat behind me to watch me and see how much i'd improved. ian was a absolute legend and not full of himself,he was very approachable and full of knowledge,he gave us lots of good little pointers as the day had gone on and was well impressed with my improvement. i absolutely loved it and came back in buzzing desperate to get back out onto track but it was day over on track

the day was ended with a final de-briefing where we were all assessed in our little group and our instructors had filled in a certificate with a few comments on it. there were a few good scores like 85 -90 out of 100 so i was absolutely gobsmacked when ian scored me 98/100 and i won a free onfire ron haslam t shirt. we were all then given a little presentation pack full of honda gufff,bridgestone stickers and other promotional stuff. overall a thoroughly good day was had and i was absolutely knackered and slept almost all the way home. i'd recommend the day to anyone and would also say that the dvd doesnt do the day justice so if your toying with it,dont just get on and book it LOL !!!

Sorry it's such a long thread but thought it best to give you a full write up. i have added a few photos from the day 1 from the first session and 1 from the final session of which the wife bought a 3ft x 2ft copy which is framed and hangs in the lounge,shes ace aint she

r1dave · Post by **r1dave** » May 4th, '07, 11:30

Thanks for that deej made a good read, your right im going to do it.

Little Loris · Post by **Little Loris** » May 4th, '07, 13:19

Nice pictures. You look really comfy! I'm afraid I might look really stiff and tense on my bike.

deej · Post by **deej** » May 4th, '07, 17:36

quite a difference im sure you'll agree and all within a couple of hours of each other. will post a report about the elite course next week

deej · Post by **deej** » Jun 17th, '07, 20:49

for those of you that were interested i had a fantastic day.learnt shed loads and woukld recommend it to anyone, was leaving big darkies out or redgate and coppice and nice power wheelies under the dunlop bridge. will do a superior write up when i have more time

ciao for now

Dynasangel · Post by **Dynasangel** » Jun 18th, '07, 06:19

Im hoping to do the Calfornia Superbike School next year, Gav and my mum have said they would do it for a xmas present